Fake Work provides a theoretically rich and often amusing picture of the banalities and absurdities of certain types of work. And those who have labored in such environments are likely to feel that she gets a lot right in her descriptions of those sorts of workplaces. Unfortunately, almost everything that Fake Work has to say about Y2K is either sorely lacking in historical and technical context, or is simply wrong.

In fairness, Fake Work isn’t really about Y2K. It’s about capitalism. But the book’s thoughtful and amusing critiques of capitalism are consistently undermined by the way this book misrepresents and oversimplifies Y2K. In talking not just about work but about Y2K, the book throws the term “fake” around a lot, and for those who are interested in a historically accurate consideration of Y2K that creates something of a very real problem.